Revisiting the billions spent on legislators cars

It is amazing, appalling, bizarre, disappointing and needless to say sordid the revelation surrounding the huge amount as analyzed by Daily Trust on its lead story of Tuesday 24th May, 2016 regarding the amount of money spent on state legislators annually especially considering the fact that many of the states have over the year failed […]

It is amazing, appalling, bizarre, disappointing and needless to say sordid the revelation surrounding the huge amount as analyzed by Daily Trust on its lead story of Tuesday 24th May, 2016 regarding the amount of money spent on state legislators annually especially considering the fact that many of the states have over the year failed to pay the minimum wage of N18,000 on the grounds that they are cash strapped.
Just take a look at the picture in summary, 978 state law makers in the federation, consuming a whopping 6 billion naira per annum which translate to 6 million per member annually and this is just what is penciled down as official entitlement aside the other underground ways which by per tripled these agreed one.
I have voiced this several times and will continue to hold my ground any time any day that the way and manner in which politically elected, selected or appointed public office holders are paid in this country is what is first undermining democracy and what is causing envy, jealousy and hatred among other professional bodies.
If one consider this outrageous legislators pay and compare it with that of a professionally trained medical doctor, teacher, nurse, midwife, executive officer, university professors and so on you will then see why the strikes by such groups are endless.
Why on earth will a legislator be paid such a huge amount of money when a medical doctor who God has empowered to literally “kill and give back life” be paid a widows might when a secondary school failed candidate is now smiling home with millions of naira just because he is a legislator.
Why do such people take this huge amount of money on monthly basis when university lecturers and professors are struggling with old rickety cars and dilapidated university accommodation and busy occupied with impacting knowledge, skills and molding the behavior and positive thinking of millions of youth.
Why is the journalist also being paid peanuts when they worked every day of the week, month and year in respective of weekends, public holidays, Sallah or Christmas days to bring news and entertainment into the homes of all and sundry?
There are hosts of hundreds and thousands of examples to show on people and professional cadres that deserved a much more better pay despite the economic crunch but yet this people are not considered good enough to earn a better and responsible pay.  
Cash strapped? That has always been given as an excuse by state governors. Are the states and the nation really cash strapped? I do not believe in that school of thought. For me, I belong to the school of thought that think that Nigeria is extremely rich and blessed with all that is called and associated with richness. But unfortunately, the country is equally blessed with professional, state of the art, international crooks extremely corrupt, naïve, selfish and narrow minded leaders at all levels.
For them the only thing called development is corruption, embezzlement and mismanagement of public funds for their own good. The amount of money spent by one of such leaders on the naming ceremony or the marriage of his daughter is enough to pay the salaries of all the primary school teachers in his local government for two years. Sadly enough, the bride is not even trained to prepare “Akamu” or even fry “Akara” for breakfast. What a waste!.
On the other hand, we are so unfortunate to have lost our real moral values to the extent that corruption, stealing and mismanagement of public funds is hailed, celebrated in every community and frequently rewarded with honours and often times with traditional and other chieftaincy titles.
A situation where parents, brothers, sisters and every other person in a society will just open eyes and look at their children building houses worth millions of naira and jumping from one expensive car to another and nobody dares to question the source of income clearly shows that “things have fallen apart and the centre cannot hold” .
As the president is bend on fighting corruption and trying to put sanity into the system, what is needed is a very conscious and deliberate effort to ensure that “Excellence and Professionalism” are fully rewarded. What this means is that even low rated job cadres such as cleaners, drivers etc. can be motivated, incentivized and be given excellent package based on experience and quality of work done over time through performance appraisal.  
There is no gain saying the fact that the country is extremely rich but nearly all its resources are in the hands of not more that 10% of the population who call themselves leaders and by their own selfish thinking deserved to live in affluence more than others. Typical of George Orwell’s Animal Farm: ‘All animals are equal but some are more equal that the others.’
With PMB at the helm of affairs the time to stop this is now. I wish to quickly say that “what is good for the goose is equally good for the gander”.
Yet again it is time to bring back sanity into the salaries and wages commissions to ensure that all are placed on a salary structure with allowances that are reasonable, acceptable and can be appreciated by all.
Hamzah, a public affairs analyst, wrote this piece from Abuja.